Known in the art are underwater snorkel or diver hand-operated propulsion devices. For example, the Sea Doo® RS series devices are battery powered using LI-ION lightweight batteries. The handlebar controls are used to hold the device in front of the diver. The unit has a neutral buoyancy. Squeezing two triggers with one's hands powers the unit, and releasing the triggers stops the power to the propeller. Apart from requiring hand operation, such devices tend to have minimal thrust. As used herein, pre-existing hand-held thrust units will be referred to as hand-held propulsion units or generically as “sea scooters.”
There is a need in the art to devise a system for adapting existing hand-held propulsion units to be capable of being mounted to a user's back, chest, or feet.
Beyond such an adaptor system, there is a need for a stand-alone device unlike any in the prior art hand-held propulsion units that is specifically designed to be foot-mounted, to be activated by the user's feet, and to allow substantial thrust underwater.